Nuclear T3 receptor: depletion by tunicamycin despite the absence of N-linked glycan units in a murine preadipocyte cell line and rat liver.

Abstract

In experiments designed to evaluate the possible presence of N-glycan units in the nuclear T3 receptor, tunicamycin markedly depleted the nuclear T3 receptor sites when added to the culture medium of the T3 responsive ob 17 preadipocyte cell line under conditions which almost totally abolished protein N-glycosylation without significant alteration of protein synthesis. The affinity for T3 was unchanged. However, no significant interaction could be detected between the T3 receptor solubilized from the ob 17 cells, or from rat liver, and several insolubilized lectins of different specificities. Furthermore, treatment of the cells with swainsonine, a Golgi mannosidase II inhibitor, did not lead to any significant interaction of the receptor with concanavalin A as it would have occurred if the receptor had contained complex glycan units unrecognized by this lectin. These results are strong arguments against the presence of N-glycosidic moieties in the nuclear T3 receptor from mouse adipose cells and rat liver. The receptor sites depletion after tunicamycin treatment may most probably reflect an indirect effect through other glycoproteins which could be on the one hand required for either receptor stabilization or localization in the chromatin, or on the other hand involved in receptor level regulation.